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Thursday, February 28, 2013

When
a colleague and peer becomes a boss, it could lead to people issues at the
workplace. Find out how such a new boss can manage team members, who until
recently were his friends.

1 Take Charge The new boss must gradually establish authority. “The recognition that you
are now the boss will naturally come to your ex- peers... It is for you to take
immediate cognisance of this and take charge,” says Pavan Mahajan, EVP &
CRO, Aspire Human Capital Management. Have a plan in place for the team to
function more effectively, says Asif Upadhye, CFO at employee engagement firm
Never Grow Up.

2 Be Approachable The new boss must maintain
communication with the team and empathise. “Your team knows your work style and
has a perception about you as a peer. Absorb those inputs. Ask them how they
feel about the recent change and if there are any issues bothering the team,”
says Upadhye. 3 Maintain Discipline Discipline has to overrule personal feelings, says Mahajan. At the same
time, stand up for your team. “No matter how you felt about your peers in the
past, focus on the collective strengths of your team rather than individual
areas of improvement while having the courage to draw the line to your team on
work deliveries and deadlines,” adds Upadhye.

4 Earn Respect A new boss should be focused on the departmental and organisational goals
and on welfare of staff. Also, the new boss must earn respect of former peers.
“Constant and clear communication, fair practices and how well you handle the
task will get you the respect you deserve,” says Mahajan.

5 Stay Friends It is possible to still be friends
with your once-peers. “All you need to do is clearly outline expectations early
on and maintain a certain balance between personal and work conversations. Your
role may have changed. You need not,” says Upadhye .

DON’T MISS... The capital erupts into a
three-day frenzy every November for Bon Om Touk, or the Cambodian Water
Festival. Falling during full moon and attracting millions every year, it
celebrates the end of rainy season and reversal of the flow of the Tonle Sap
River, the nation’s lifeline. Expect boat races, concerts, food fests,
fireworks, and more, from 16-18 November.

THE CAMBODIAN WATER FESTIVAL BEST TIME TO VISIT The country is at its best between November and February. To avoid the
crowd, as well as high-season rates, consider a trip at the end of October.

TRIP TRAIL Here’s a sample seven-night itinerary to get you started. Begin the
journey with Phnom Penh, where you can spend two nights to catch the main
sights, including Pol Pot’s murderous reign at the nearby Killing Fields. On
day 3, take a taxi to Sihanoukville for sand and surf. The typical fare for
an air-conditioned taxi is $50. Spend two nights here to visit Kampot and its
famous pepper plantations. On day 5, fly down to Siem Reap ($122 per head on
Cambodia Angkor Air) and spend the afternoon at the Rolous Group. Space out
the next two days for visits to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, Baphoun,
Bakheng, and Banteay Srei. Consider replacing the crowded Ta Prohm with Beng
Mealea. Lastly, fly home from Siem Reap, instead of backtracking to Phnom
Penh.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE...

AIR FARE On the popular portals, Malaysia
Airlines has the best fares, typically 42,300 for open jaw flights. The
unrepresented Cambodia Angkor Air has Bangkok-Phnom Penh and Siem
Reap-Bangkok at 15,510, while Delhi-Bangkok return flights cost around
21,000. That’s a saving of 5,790 per head.

EXCHANGE RATE The local currency is the
Cambodian Riel (KHR), but US dollars (USD) are as commonly used. At the
moment 100 will get you $1.84 and $1 equals KHR 4,000. The good news is that
the already affordable Cambodia may become more so if the rupee continues
appreciating in 2013.

VISA The best option is the e-visa,
costing $25. Visit the site www.-mfaic.gov.kh/evisa,
pay with your credit card and breeze though immigration at Phnom Penh. If
you’d rather save money, not time, get the visa on arrival for $20.

TRIP EXPENSE For a backpacking trip, the
average daily expense per person (covering stay, food and local transportation)
will be $15-20. Estimate $650-950 per head for a mid-range sevennight
itinerary, without flights. Luxury breaks of the same duration will cost over
$1,200. Keep some KHR notes of small denomination for tips.

ACCOMMODATION While you can find guesthouses and
hostel beds for as little as $5 a night, shelling out $10-20 will bring
niceties like TV and AC. Three-star hotels cost upwards of $50 a night. Our
favourite midrange hotel in Phnom Penh is The Pavilion, and Siddharta Hotel
in Reap.

LOCAL COMMUTE The handiest option is the
motorcycle taxis or tuk-tuk that can be hired for $1-2 for short trips within
town or for $15 for the day. To travel between towns, say, Phnom
Penh-Battambang, buses are the cheapest option. Fares typically range between
$6 and $10. Taxis, obviously, are better.

In the comics, Superman converts the energy from the sun’s rays into X-rays
that give him the ability to see through solid objects. In a few years, a
similar power may be available to anyone with a smartphone.
Ali Hajimiri, a professor of electrical engineering at the California Institute
of Technology, has created a chip capable of producing terahertz
waves—radiation that can penetrate materials such as plastic and wood without
the side effects associated with X-rays. When connected with a computer or mobile
device, the 0.1 inch-wide silicon chip could help doctors locate skin cancer
noninvasively and speed up passenger scans at airport security lines.
So-called T-rays have been used mostly in experiments in medical and dental
imaging. Typically, the rays are created with bulky, expensive machines, which
“see” using a single large beam that can image only a narrow area. Hajimiri,
working with post-doctoral researcher Kaushik Sengupta, got thousands of tiny
transistors to operate in concert, producing terahertz waves from a smaller
package. “Imagine if you have an army of ants, where you can individually
control what each ant does,” Hajimiri says. “It’s more versatile than an
elephant. You can program them to do different things.” In his design, the
transistors work in unison, increasing the chip’s range of view so it could,
image the contents, say, of a box.
Hajimiri came up with the idea about four years ago, after observing that the
transistors on chips were getting smaller and weaker but also extremely inexpensive
to produce. “Everybody is complaining that you can’t do anything because the
transistors are becoming so puny,” he says. “That’s true, but I have something
that works to my advantage: I have practically an unlimited amount of
transistors,” which allows the chip to produce a stronger signal that’s easier
to control. The technology has “potential opportunities in a wide range of
applications,” says Jim McGregor, founder of Tirias Research, which follows the
chip industry. Installed in a smartphone, the chip could be used to scan
packages at a post office for security threats or to find art hidden behind the
paint on the walls of historic buildings.

The Public Provident Fund (PPF) may be one of the most popular tax-saving
schemes, which can be opened in a post office or designated bank branches,
but do you know the investment limit or the withdrawal time frame? Here’s
how to familiarise yourself with this investment option. 1 How much is the interest rate? The interest rate offered on the PPF is no longer fixed, but linked to
the market. It is 0.25% above the 10-year government bond yield. This does
not mean that the rate will change on a day-today basis. It will be
announced every year in April, based on the average bond yield in the
previous year. For the current financial year, it is 8.8%, but could recede
next year. Bond yields have fallen below 8% in recent weeks and the average
for 2012-13 has dropped to 8.25%. Analysts don’t expect the PPF rate to be
more than 8.5% in 2013-14. 2
How does the interest accrue?
The interest on your PPF balance is compounded annually, but the
calculation is done every month. The interest is calculated on the lowest
balance between the fifth and last day of every month. So, if you invest
before the 5th, the contribution will earn interest for that month too.
Otherwise, it’s like an interest-free loan to the government for a month.
If you are investing through a cheque, make sure you deposit it 3-4 days
before the cut-off date. If your bank is lethargic in crediting the amount
to your PPF account, your investment might miss the deadline. 3 What are the tax benefits? The PPF corpus is tax-free at all three stages. The investment is
eligible for tax deduction under Section 80C. The interest earned is also
tax-free, and so are withdrawals. The original draft Direct Taxes Code,
introduced in 2010, had proposed withdrawal of tax benefit. Though it would
have been with prospective effect and existing investments would have been
exempt, there was strong opposition to the move. The revised draft DTC
nixed the proposal. However, with P Chidambaram back as finance minister,
the original DTC proposals may come back in some form. Make the most of
this tax-free opportunity before the rules change. 4 How much can you invest? The investment limit is 1 lakh in a year through a maximum of 12
instalments. If your minor child has a PPF account, the combined limit for
both accounts will be 1 lakh. Don’t invest more than the 1 lakh in a year,
because if it is discovered, any interest earned by the excess amount will
be reversed. There is also a minimum investment required. An investor has
to put in at least 500 in his PPF account in a year. You will be levied a
small, but irksome, penalty of 50 if you fail to do so. 5 When does it mature? A PPF account matures in 15 years, but you can extend the tenure in
blocks of five years after maturity. The balance continues to earn interest
at the normal rate. The minimum investment of 500 has to be maintained even
for accounts extended beyond 15 years. This does not mean your money is
locked up for this period. The lock-in period falls with every passing
year. In the 14th year, it will only be one year. If you need money, you
can withdraw after the sixth year, but it cannot exceed 50% of the balance
at the end of fourth year, or the immediate preceding year, whichever is
lower. You can also withdraw only once in a financial year. You can also
take a loan against it, but this cannot exceed 25% of the balance in the
preceding year. The loan is charged at 2% till 36 months, and 6% for longer
tenures. Till a loan is repaid, you can’t take more loans.

Mumbai: Barbies and Hot Wheels are
so passe, kids these days will tell you. For them, the toy story isn’t
complete without the rush of new brands that have recently entered the
market.
Hamleys, Simba and Hape are just some of the brands that have come in
recently, even as a whole host of others, including Brio, will hit shop
shelves in weeks and months to come.
What explains this sudden interest in India?
If experts are to be believed, toy brands are shifting focus to India and
other emerging markets mainly because kids in the West are getting hooked to
tablets and smartphones.
“The fact that the organised toy market in India is small is an added
advantage,” says Arvind Singhal, chairman of Technopak Advisors. “Also, India
has one of the largest baby populations, which spells an opportunity for toy
companies.”
The slowing economy in the West, particularly Europe, has also led to a
slowdown in the overall toy market, prompting toy makers to head into Asia,
says Rajaram, category head - toys, stationery & sports, Landmark.
This shift, in turn, has started redefining the way toys are retailed in
India.
For one, faced with competition from e-commerce companies, book store chains
such as Landmark and Crossword have slowly been morphing into family stores,
the spotlight increasingly shifting to kids.
Most of these stores are going big on toy retailing. Indeed, Landmark, run by
the Tata group, has lined up as many as six brands for launch over the next
two months.
In order to make toys a more edutainment item, Landmark also plans to sell
them based on a kids intelligence quotient. “We plan to recommend toys based
on a kid’s skill. For this, we will have doctors in the store who will be
able to recommend a particular toy based on some preliminary tests. But
rolling this out may take some time,” says Rajaram.
Among others, the Mahindra group, which runs Mom & Me stores, and
Reliance, which has a franchise for Hamleys stores, have been ramping up
their toy offerings.
Not for nothing are toys a `11,000-13,500
crore market in India already and expected to touch `19,000 crore by 2015, says Prasar Sharma, founder, Exelixi
Management Company, which bought Simba toys to India, quoting an in-house
research.
“Rise in disposable income and aspirational lifestyle is another reason the
global players are making a beeline to India,” he says.
Interestingly, these players have also reduced prices significantly to be
able to take on unorganised players, which dominate the market. They are also
rolling out smaller ticket size toys to lure more customers.
But it won’t be long before digital toys catch up in India, too, taking some
sheen off the market, cautions Singhal.
Until then, the players would be looking to make the most of the market.
Kids, for sure, won’t be complaining.